DMA List Suppression

(How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, Spam, and Telemarketers)

The Mail Preference Service division of the Direct Marketing
Association (known as DMA) compiles a list of people who do
not want junk mail. This list is provided to any company who
requests it, usually magazines.

Write Mail Preference Service and request your name, address,
and phone number be deleted from all mailing and marketing
lists. Provide them with three spellings or variations of your name, as
well as with any other names at your address (including
previous occupants). They will retain your information for
five years. At that time you should write again. Be sure
to write when you move. Send your name and address.
Be sure to sign and date your letter.

The Farmingdale office processes your request. They will attempt to enter your correct full name at your specified address, but not all permutations, and they have been known to arbitrarily leave off an important variation of your name. On a quarterly basis, they send an updated database to their DC office and make the database available for general distribution. To see if your name was correctly entered into their database, contact: Mail Preference Service, Washington, DC, and ask for Ms. Tyree, Consumer Affairs Dept. 202.955.5030 x2413.

DMA also offers a telephone opt-out service. Write them with a list
of all telephone numbers you want placed on "do not call" lists.
Send your name, address, phone number with area code, and signature.
They will retain your information for five years.

The DMA also has an Ethics & Consumer affairs department in Washington, DC. They deal with obvious violations by member companies and also with violations by non-member companies. Probably the most common violation is refusal of a companny to honor your privacy request. Contact Pat Falley at 202.861.2410 or Bowles Pender 202.861.2407. Yet experience has shown that these folks care little about truly enforcing ethics concerns.

FACT: Mail Preference Service is a good step to
getting off junk mail lists.

FICTION: Mail Preference Service works as a cure-all
(it does not).
Many companies, including the post office,
try to tell people that all they have to
do is write DMA. Usage of the DMA
suppression list is completely voluntary. Many
organizations use it, but many do not.
You still have to follow up with additional
action and contacts to other companies.

FICTION: The DMA is a consumer organization.

FACT: "The goal of the DMA is to discover and to thwart possible government regulation." - President of the DMA, DM News, October 22, 1990.

The TRUTH:Private Citizen (800-CUT-JUNK)
can tell you about the true purpose of the DMA and what you can really do to get off mailing lists.

Don't support the DMA's e-mail preference scheme (an opt-out scheme), as it only gives them "ammunition" to tell Congress that no legislation is required to protect email users.
In other words, if you want junk e-mail, you should have to ask for it, not vice-versa.

Copyright 1995-2004 Fred Elbel. This material may be freely used and distributed only for non-commercial purposes, with credit.
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